Bentley 102, North Alabama 92: Falcons get shot at Winona

It's been quite some time, 34 games to be exact, since the Bentley College men's basketball team last lost a game.

Sean Jacquet/Daily News staff

It's been quite some time, 34 games to be exact, since the Bentley College men's basketball team last lost a game.

Tonight, they'll get the chance to avenge that loss.

Courtesy of last night's 102-92 victory over South Regional champion North Alabama in the first round of the Elite Eight at Springfield's MassMutual Center, the still unbeaten Falcons (34-0) will face Winona State (36-1), a 67-54 winner over previously unbeaten Grand Valley State. The Warriors are the only team to have beaten Bentley in the past two seasons, a span of 67 games, beating the Falcons, 64-51, in the first round of the Elite Eight last season.

This time, the Falcons vow, Winona State will be facing a different, more relaxed team.

``We were here last year and did not play very well,'' said Bentley coach Jay Lawson, ``and I think you saw a very focused group of student-athletes that have waited 12 months and worked very hard to get to this spot. They had to be fortunate to get to do it, as is the case in Division II, to get out of your region, but once they got to this game, it was pretty evident that we were different than we were last year. Al little more relaxed, more like normal selves and we played more like our normal selves on both ends of the floor.''

Using their typically balanced offense, supreme depth and strong rebounding, the Falcons bumped off the taller and more athletic Lions with a season-high in points. Six players scored in double figures for Bentley, as sophomore guard Jason Westrol led with a career-high 26 points on nine-of-12 shooting.

After struggling in the last two games of the Northeast Regional and playing the ``worst game of my college career'' in last year's loss to Winona State, junior forward Lew Finnegan came through beautifully in his second chance on the Elite Eight stage, putting up 19 points and eight rebounds. Senior point guard Yusuf Abdul-Ali had 15 points and tied for a career high with eight assists in his return to his native Springfield, while redshirt freshman guard Mike Quinn, after missing most of last year with a torn ACL, had 13.

And junior forward Mike Sikonski - he of the 4.4 points per game, had 11. Although the Falcons missed six of their last 14 free throws free throws over the final 1:41 when the game devolved into a foul-shooting contest, they still finished 27-of-26 (75 percent) for the game.

Bentley clicked all game offensively, shooting 54.8 percent (34-of-62) for the game, 57.7 (15-of-26) in the second half as the Falcons held the charging Lions at bay. Sparked by 25 points from 6-foot-6, 300-pound junior center Thomas Fraise, the Lions whittled a 19-point deficit to eight - the last time at 96-88. Fraise had 15 points in the second half, and the Lions' Casey Holt had 11 after the break.

But 12 points from Finnegan and 11 points each from Quinn and Westrol in the second half helped repel the Lions' charge, allowing the Falcon faithful to chant ``We want Winona.''

``We'll take a 10-point victory, 61-51, too, so we're thrilled either way when we have a point spread like this,'' said Lawson. ``The tempo dictates the score. This team shoots aggressively and we also got some quick shots against their defense, so there's going to be more possessions. We're just happy that we played good offense the way we should have. They extended, they came after us, and we got things to the rim. Once they started help to the rim, we got some open looks. They went to zone and, once Quinn and Lew hit 3's, that relaxed us when they tried zone. That's what our team is: free-flow basketball, five-man motion. We have players who can pass, dribble and shoot on the floor at all five positions most of the time.''

Though North Alabama averaged 86.8 points per game this season, it was Bentley lighting up the scoreboard in the first half, shooting 52.8 percent from the field (19-of-36) to take a 48-36 lead into the break. After the Lions took a 22-19 lead, Bentley responded with a 22-8 run to go up 41-29.

Westrol had eight points during the run, finishing the half with 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting.

``We were tentative last year and this year, coach was telling us to be more aggressive and do what we do best,'' said Westrol. ``If I penetrated and drove and they didn't help, I would put it in, but we're so team-oriented that you can't just sit on one guy and tonight, I just happened to get some open looks.''

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